Disability and Literacy/Numeracy in Uganda

The post Education and Disability: Dropout Figures for Uganda showed statistics for the education of children with disabilities (CWDs) in Uganda. The information used was taken from the 2012 paper Access to education for children with disabilities in Uganda: Implications for Education for All. The post presented two tables taken from the paper. Table 1 showed the percentage of pupils that had attended school at some stage in their lives and Table 2 showed pupils that had achieved Grade 5. Grade 5 means the person has basic literacy and numeracy.

This post summarizes that data into one Table and answers the questions: What percentage of children with a disability have basic literacy and numeracy? The calculated results are as follows:

Table: Child disability and Literacy/Numeracy

The following data is reported in each column: 

• Attended or Attending School: Children were asked if they had attended school or dropped out of school, these percentages were added together, reported as a percentage.
• Grade 5 Completed: Children aged 13-17 years old, if they were attending or had attended school, were asked if they had passed Grade 5, that is did they have basic numeracy and literacy, this is reported as a percentage.
• Basic Literacy/ Numeracy: Shows the percentage of CWDs in each disability group, age 13-17 years, that have basic numeracy and literacy and is reported as a percentage.

	Attended or Attending School	Grade 5 Completed	Basic Literacy/ Numeracy
Difficulty seeing even with glasses
No difficulty	91.02	34.67	31.56
Yes - some difficulty	94.47	30.59	28.90
Yes - a lot of difficulty	85.30	27.37	23.35
Difficulty hearing even with hearing aid
No difficulty	91.20	35.33	32.22
Yes - some difficulty	90.66	24.24	21.98
Yes - a lot of difficulty	77.49	10.48	8.12
Difficulty walking or climbing stairs
No difficulty	91.21	35.19	32.07
Yes - some difficulty	91.11	20.39	18.58
Yes - a lot of difficulty	61.43	10.74	6.66
Difficulty remembering or concentrating
No difficulty	91.20	36.64	33.42
Yes - some difficulty	92.39	19.39	17.91
Yes - a lot of difficulty	71.36	12.12	8.65
Difficulty with selfcare
No difficulty	91.48	35.64	32.60
Yes - some difficulty	89.97	16.80	15.11
Yes - a lot of difficulty	41.88	0	0
Difficulty communicating
No difficulty	91.33	35.26	32.20
Yes - some difficulty	87.64	9.21	8.07
Yes - a lot of difficulty	52.24	3.66	1.91

When a child with a disability attends school attitudes are changed

The National Education Profile 2014 Update using 2011 data shows that 4% of youths from 16-24 years have never attended education and that 52% have not completed primary school. This means that more than 44% of Ugandan non disabled children have surpassed basic numeracy and literacy of Grade 5.

Inspecting the data reported in the table above, it becomes immediately apparent that CWDs lag behind their non disabled counterparts by more than 10 percentage points; in some cases by more than 40 percentage points. CWDs face significant barriers. This means that between 65% and 100% of CWDs between the ages of 13 and 17 years in Uganda do not have basic numeracy and literacy.

Disability affects CWDs in diverse ways. There is no one size fits all solution to the inequalities displayed in the Table above. It is clear that the issue of barriers to learning needs to be addressed with some urgency. If access was improved:

• Reducing class sizes: Would help children with difficulty remembering or concentrating.
• Wheelchair access: Those that have difficulty climbing stairs would have more opportunity to be literate and numerate. 
• Sign language interpreters: Those that have difficulty hearing would have more opportunity to be literate and numerate. 
• Accessible toilets: Those having difficulty with selfcare would have more opportunity to be literate and numerate. 
• Braille: Those having difficulty with seeing even with glasses would have more opportunity to be literate and numerate.

The data presented above clearly shows that as the degree of disability increases, it becomes more difficult to access education. In other words as the severity of disability increases, literacy and numeracy decreases. That means that CWDs do not have proper access to education. Therefore Uganda's education system is failing CWDs and above all failing Ugandan society - imagine the brilliant minds that are being left behind just because they cannot get into school. Disability should not mean inability. Everyone has the right to be educated. A barrier free society means means equal access for everyone, and everyone in society benefits.